Training disaster communication by means of serious games in virtual environments

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.entcom.2010.12.009Get rights and content

Abstract

The training of social skills in organizational settings has become more and more important for an effective communicative exchange between members of staff. Especially in companies where the line of communication has to be fast and unmistakable, e.g. in crisis management units, the regular training of communication skills is therefore indispensable. The DREAD-ED project proposes an innovative, technology-based teaching methodology to meet these needs. The methodology provides a serious game which enables its users to train soft skills in a virtual environment under safe conditions. The current paper presents the results of two trials conducted with crisis managers and university students in Germany.

Research highlights

► DREAD-ED game offer an innovative methodology for training soft skills. ► Disaster communication can be trained under safe and realistic conditions. ► Expertise on disaster communication facilitates handling of the games’ challenges.

Introduction

As tsunamis and earthquakes in the recent time have alarmingly demonstrated, natural disasters as well as other emergency situations such as fires are omnipresent dangers in our daily life. The advance training of emergency management personnel is therefore an important issue in reducing damage by these terrifying catastrophes. Given that disasters can vary in scope from e.g. local fires on a chemical park to large earthquakes such as the one in Haiti in January 2010, a broad training strategy combining domain specific knowledge and social skills such as communication and decision making in groups is required [1]. These trainings of social or “soft skills” need to include a realistic simulation of communication in conditions of stress, fear as well as problem-solving by means of contradictory information and in the face of competing demands [2], [3], [4]. However, a regular training of social skills is either costly in terms of time and money because crisis units need 1:1 reenactments of disasters to guarantee a simulation close to reality or they are trained in traditional classroom environments, where standard operating procedures are learned from printed documents and, therefore, are far away from real crisis situations and the applied learning of social skills. Hence, both training settings only offer unsatisfactory training conditions.

Nowadays with the help of new computer technologies, more flexible possibilities are given to train disaster communication. Serious games working with modern virtual environments appear to combine the engagement and realism of a simulation with the cost-effectiveness of a paper-based classroom teaching session [5]. These games are capable of simulating the general disorder of a real emergency management room and they offer various possibilities of coaching with regard to the training of soft skills and communicative behavior. Moreover, they have the advantage that all persons involved in the simulation, apart from the actual personnel taking part in the training, can be simulated. Thus, a great deal of the expense involved in running these exercises is eliminated.

Against this background, the DREAD-ED (Disaster Readiness through Education) project – funded by the EU Lifelong Learning Programme – designed a serious game which provides cost-effective training and is based on the concept of experiential problem-based learning. Users of the multi-user game are confronted with a fictitious natural disaster (e.g. fire at a chemical plant, flooding of a river) whose incalculability offers the basis for various group decisions within a short period of time. A tutor supervises the group communication during the game-play and is supposed to give feedback on the communicative exchange between the group members. The game is part of a blended learning strategy: after playing the game, the decision-making processes are discussed in the group in a detailed feedback phase. Within the project, the DREAD-ED game was tested on three test sites in France, Germany, and Italy. The current paper describes the results of two German trials in which two different target groups with different expertise on crisis management played the DREAD-ED game: Students of a large German university as well as members of the Academy of Crisis Management and Civil Defense tested the game and evaluated its requirements. Additionally, the learning outcomes were assessed.

Section snippets

Virtual environments and crisis management

The concept of using virtual environments to situate scenario based training for emergency services is not completely new. There are already some virtual environments to provide 3D rendered views of a natural disaster with information conveyed via interactive on-screen menus and heads-up displays. For instance, virtual realities such as the responder simulation and training environment (FiRSTE; see http://firste.mst.edu/), and Play2Train (see http://www.play2train.org) have both embraced the

Training group decision-making in serious games

Research from various disciplines such as psychology and computer science has recently suggested serious games as effective media for teaching educational content [1], [12], [13]. Although a first insight into research on serious games might convey the impression that a majority of serious games only focus on the learning of children or adolescents, serious games can also be conceptualized for adults. A driving simulation, for instance, can be used for elder people to test their fitness to

The DREAD-ED game

The DREAD-ED game places its users in an emergency management team that is dealing with an evolving emergency (e.g. a huge fire close to a chemical park or the flooding of a river close to a city). Each member is assigned a specific role that has unique abilities within the game. These roles (e.g. leader of the team) are based on the roles of members of crisis units in reality. Between three and six people can participate in one game session [1], [12].

Evaluation of the DREAD-ED game

The DREAD-ED game was tested in two trials in Germany. The first trial using a beta-version of the game was conducted in June 2009. The second trial was conducted in December 2009 with the final version of the DREAD-ED game. The beta-version had the same game mechanics like the final version but there were no media injects illustrating the disaster (e.g. a television report on the fire, radio reports, emails, SMS messages, and phone calls). The only information on the state of the disaster was

Discussion

With regard to the training of social skills, it appears that due to its mechanics the game is able to teach an efficient exchange of information in compelling situations. It encourages its users to critically reflect on their decisions made within the game. The comparison of emergency managers with the student sample in terms of group performance underlines how the successful use of soft skills (effective communication and group decision making) leads to success within the serious game.

Conclusions

In conclusion, the DREAD-ED game provides an engaging environment for training group decision making processes. Within the game, groups face the same challenges with regard to communication that they face in emergency management situations in reality. Crucially, the training of these skills should help emergency managers to make more well-informed and efficient decisions during the managing a life-threatening event such as a fire on a chemical plant. As the provision of an inexpensive online

Acknowledgments

The DREAD-ED (see http://www.dread-ed.eu) project is funded by the European Union Lifelong Learning Programme and specifically, is part of the Leonardo da Vinci subprogramme, key activity 3: “Development of ICT-based content and services”.

The game and its design was developed by Conor Linehan, PhD (Lincoln Social Computing Research Centre, University of Lincoln) and Massimiliano Schembri (Institute of Cognitive Sciences and Technologies, University of Naples). More information on the game can

References (26)

  • M. Lombard, T.B. Ditton, At the Heart of it All: The Concept of Presence. J. Comp. Commun. 13,...
  • C. Youngblut, Educational Uses of Virtual Reality Technology, IDA Document D-2128, Institute for Defense Analyses,...
  • S. Jain, C.R. McLean, Integrated simulation and gaming architecture for incident management training, in: M.E. Kuhl,...
  • Cited by (0)

    View full text